Boeing seeks FAA exemption for KC-46

Boeing has announced a new, and fairly serious issue with the KC-46, that without an FAA exemption allowing secondary certification will further delay delivery. According to the release by Boeing, there is a software issue when the aircraft is taking on fuel in flight, filling the center body tank. There are three processes that, if they fail, would allow an over pressure condition in the tank, that could result in catastrophic failure of the tank.

Boeing says that it's extremely unlikely that the processes will fail in a condition that will allow an over pressure, but all three processes are run through one processor in the computer. The exemption, if granted by the FAA, would give Boeing until the end of June 2019 to come up with a permanent fix. Until it's in place, Boeing would require a third crew member in the cockpit to monitor the fueling process (in other words, a Flight Engineer).

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Is that why there was a slew of Omega kc10's and AF KC10's off the coast of SoCal into Palmdale today? Focussing around General Atomics

a reply to: Bigburgh

No, one of the carriers is out there working up.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ohhhh.. ok then

My mistake..
Not a KC10. My apologies

"The USAF accepts Boeing’s proposed mitigation as “manageable in the short-term”, the service tells FlightGlobal, adding, “the Air Force understands the timeline Boeing has presented to incorporate the necessary changes to remove the [proposed exemption]”.

Are they being rushed?

a reply to: Bigburgh

They've screwed this program up from day one. They seriously lowballed the bid and it's biting them in the ass.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Damn..
Can we go with an Airbus? In short term? Like an A330?

Till the kinks are worked out, i see the boeing version sitting on the ramp at Everett, but no actaul flight time yet. Yeaa ya I google earth alot.. 🙄

a reply to: Bigburgh

There are six tankers sitting at Boeing field currently and several more in Everett that don't show up on GE. The imagery data is fairly old. I'm not sure if it's still there, but there might be another one at Edwards still doing testing with classified platforms. They are flying the tankers quite frequently here.

Exemption Granted.

www.flightglobal.com...